Avenir aggressive in pursuit of O2

Avenir Telecom is understood to be offering bonus incentives to its sales staff if 80 per cent of new connections go to O2 each quarter.

Avenir is said to be looking to increase its relationship with O2 and is now “heavily” targeting O2 sales ahead of Orange and 3, dealers claim.

Avenir managing director Andy Tow (pictured) strongly denied claims it is setting itself to run as an O2 solus distributor.

Tow said: “We view ourselves as a very important partner to O2. We would position ourselves as a strategic partner and it is certainly a very important part of our business – but not at the expense of the other two. Absolutely not. There is no chance of that happening.”

Avenir was named as O2 ‘partner of the year’ for 2009, and also won its quarterly distributor award for its performances in Q1,Q2 and Q4 last year. Avenir said last week its churn levels on O2 had held steady at eight per cent since October, and it was O2’s highest connector of Joined Up.

Avenir dealers claim the distributor has made no moves to encourage sales of either Orange or 3 in recent months. It is offering a £10 bonus on Orange upgrades.

It is offering 100 per cent upfront commission on 3 connections, up from 80 per cent. But O2 bonuses include box seats at the O2 Arena, £100 extra for every connection, £50 extra for new BlackBerry connections, £25 extra for 36-month deals, £50 for Joined Up connections, and a free prepay dongle with every mobile broadband sale.

O2 is said to set minimum monthly connection targets of around 500 (1,500 per quarter). Avenir currently connects around 1,200 new connections per month in total, of which most go to O2, sources close to it claimed.